Loopholes for Sale: Campaign Contributions by Corporate Tax Dodgers

New from U.S. PIRG and Citizens for Tax Justice

A new report from U.S. PIRG and Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ) finds that thirty unusually aggressive tax dodging corporations have made campaign contributions to 524 sitting members of Congress (98 percent of all members), and disproportionately to the leadership of both parties and to key committee members. The report, Loopholes for Sale: Campaign Contributions by Corporate Tax Dodgers, examines campaign contributions made by a total of 280 profitable Fortune 500 companies in the 2006, 2008, 2010 election cycles and so far in the 2012 election cycle.

Read the report.

The report focuses on campaign contributions by 30 companies – dubbed the “Dirty Thirty” – that a previous U.S. PIRG/CTJ study found collectively received $10.6 billion in tax rebates from 2008 through 2010 while spending millions to lobby Congress.

Altogether, these companies spent $41 million on campaign contributions during the four most recent election cycles, with members of Congress receiving $58,000 on average.

The top five Congressional recipients of contributions since 2005 from the 30 no-tax companies were:

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) - $379,850
Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) - $336,500
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) – $320,900
Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO and former House Minority Whip 2003-08) – $220,500
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) - $177,001


The top five corporate contributors since 2005 are:

Honeywell - $6,469,277
Boeing - $4,049,250
General Electric - $3,390,850
Verizon - $3,201,550
FedEx - $2,595,900

Read the report.